BEDTIME RITUALS

Like most kids, ours LOVE the bedtime ritual. They usually are the exact same every night, but every once in a while there will be a little change in the song or something. Well, recently we have been getting visits from some pretty funny characters. Sleep Genie, the kids' favorite, has a towel on his head and talks with an Indian accent about how special the kids are and how important it is to go to sleep. Farmer John, who sounds eerily like former President George W. Bush, tells them about how fun it is to live on a farm and do all the hard work and chores. I keep meaning to get pictures of these visits, but they're just to funny to miss a moment.

We begin by having a race up the stairs, then brushing teeth and going to the bathroom. Whoever gets done first, while still doing a good job, gets to pick the first book. We then read three or four books. Then we kneel down in a circle for family prayer, followed by family hug which they all practically knock me over for. Then we do family kiss, which is hilarious.

The girls always want a story about Princess Bellarina, Princess Paisleyanna, and Prince Gage who live in a castle. They don't care what they do in the story as long as I get the names right.

Gage wants me to read to him in his room a few pages from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I don't care for this book at all. The main character is rude, sassy, and lazy. So I change most of what it really reads to something more desirable. Lately, Gage has been on a kick at bedtime. He wants me to rock him like I used to, then tuck him in, and sing him three songs in an exact order: Here Comes The Oxcart, I Am Like A Star, and I Love to See The Temple (both verses). It's so sweet.

Once I was telling him a bedtime story and trying to mix it up a bit. I tried to be mysterious and scary and said "once upon a time" in a scary voice. He laughed and said, "Very clever, Mom. Very clever."

SOMETHING TO PONDER

A while back, there was an activity at one of our extra church meetings that encouraged us to ask daily, "DID GOD SEND A MESSAGE THAT WAS JUST FOR ME? DID I SEE HIS HAND IN MY LIFE OR THE LIVES OF MY CHILDREN?" and to write down our thoughts. This was an especially difficult challenge for me. I struggle with recognizing the difference between the Spirit telling me something or me making it up in my own mind. However, I jotted down some things and here they are:

I was prompted to stop and play with my children when I had a mile-long list of things to do.

Gage said a prayer asking for help at his first soccer practice to not be nervous and not cry and to try his best – he had confidence and did great.

I prayed to know how to be the mother my children needed, and today was more joyful. I felt more patience and more love.

Paisley is starting to communicate a little better instead of the grunting/whining. She says, “hot”, points to the fridge when she’s hungry or thirsty, etc. Makes the day better. Went to TJ Maxx with three grumpy kids and was very patient and didn’t lose control even once.

While reading a post from one of my favorite blogs, she was talking about how her infertile body became pregnant again. I suddenly got chills and goosebumps that started at my head and moved down to my toes. Why? What does that mean?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA POWERS!

Grandpa Powers turned 82 and we had a party for him! All of the Powers Family and the Rice Family (cousins) came. It was fun to catch up with everyone and see all those cousins that we only see every couple of years. In fact, the last time we saw them was at Grandpa Powers' 80th birthday party.

These kiddos sure love their Grandpa and they mean so much to him.

A rare picture of Rob with his Dad. We need more of these.

Grandpa Powers is a former sergeant in the Army, but you'd never know it. He is so sweet and cuddly. He is very sensitive and wears his heart on his sleeve. He gets so lonely still without Una and longs to be with her. But we are happy to still have this time with him and were glad to celebrate his birthday.

LISTENING AND RESPECT

Gage goes to World Tae Kwon Do Center with Grand Master Hong. The two things he teaches most are listening to and respecting your parents. He has such a way of making all the kids love him, yet respect him fully at the same time. They don't dare disrespect him, and yet he is also very kind and loving. Gage really likes it and I think it's really good for him. Grand Master Won Ki Hong is from Korea and has a very thick accent. It took Gage some time to adjust to it and understand what he was saying. He and his wife (who works the desk) love Gage. They always comment on how he's so smart and "like an old man". Recently, Grand Master has been getting after Gage to not be so serious and to smile more. It's funny because he's not like that anywhere else but there. In this picture is one of Gage's favorite friends, Yi Geon Pak. He is also Korean and has such good form and technique. He's a good friend to Gage, always encouraging him.

On this night, Gage was testing for his green belt. He always gets very nervous on testing nights because it is very formal and serious, even more so than his regular classes, and there are a lot of people there. The first part of his testing is sparring, where they partner up and spar each other. That's what Gage gets most excited about. At the end of the skills test, Grand Master will ask each student various questions, all different. For Gage, he asked him about his family and if he is kind to his sisters, even when they bug him. He also asked him to demonstrate how he responds when his mother calls him. He even asked me to play my role, and then let Gage respond. Gage did it, but it really embarassed him and as soon as Grand Master moved on to the next student, I saw Gage wiping tears away.

Growing up, my brothers went to a wrestling studio under Mu Chang. He was a Korean man who taught my brothers innumerable things. He became a close family friend and I remember once when I was very young that about four or five of his friends/family came from Korea to stay with us for a few days. That was really neat. As it turns out, Grand Master is a very good friend of Mu Chang's and really enjoyed talking with Dad about it when he came to watch Gage once. I am hopeful that Gage will learn the same principles and qualities that my brothers did. Confidence, self-discipline, respect, honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, hard-work and fun.

THE LITTLE MERMAIDS

Bella and Paisley have the best swim teacher ever. Her name is Miss Allison and she has patience and love like no other. Her voice and demeanor never wavers. NOT EVER. And we are very grateful to her.

Bella has really become a good little swimmer. She has good form on freestyle and on her dives. She has no fear and just dives right off the diving board, then turns 90 degrees and swims to the side. Paisley also has no fear and thinks that she can swim independently. She gets mad when you help her, even though she really needs it. She loves to dive off the diving board and swim down to grab the rings. By the end of their lessons, she made so much progress.

When it's not their turn, the kids are to sit on the step and wait, but this rarely happens. Except for Paisley. It's hilarious. She sits there perfectly still and waits for her turn. Miss Allison would often comment to me about how calm Paisley is. Ha!! Now that's just funny. But I never let on.

Bella is a chatterbox. She does not stop talking the whole lesson. She's talking as she's about to go under the water and picks up where she left off when her head comes up again. It's seriously non-stop. About everything and anything. Even Miss Allison would gently remind her that when it was another kid's turn, she couldn't talk with Bella. But that never phased her one bit. She would talk to all the other moms - telling them all kinds of stuff. She would tell them, "I love you" and it was the first time she'd seen them. They never quite knew what to say in response. I would just cringe and pretend not to notice.

I love my little mermaids!

I NEEDED THIS

I just stumbled across this poem and I REALLY needed this......

Oh, give me patience when tiny hands
Tug at me with their small demands
And give me gentle and smiling eyes;
Keep my lips from sharp replies.
And let not fatigue, confusion, or noise
Obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.
So when, years later, my house is still--
No bitter memories its rooms may fill.
ANONYMOUS




I recently visited a woman who, after raising her family, working hard and living right, is suffering tremendous heartache when she should be enjoying the fruits of her labor. She said that even when your children are grown adults with their own families, you still look at them and think, "That's my little boy", no matter what they've done. She longs for the days when her children were little and life was simple and joyous. It was another reminder for me to cherish these few short years, even when....no ESPECIALLY when there is fatigue, confusion and noise.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The day I have dreaded since Gage was born inevitably came today, August 11th, 2010. He is off to start a new and exciting adventure and I have mixed feelings. I'm excited for him - all the fun things, learning, the gain of independence are all good things for him and for that I am happy. But I miss him. He's only gone for three hours and I miss him. Is he prepared? Will he make friends? Will he be teased because of his glasses? Have we taught him enough to make good choices? I suppose it's partly because I know that his long school career has begun and there's no turning back. The freedom of doing what we want, when we want is gone. My little boy is growing up. It's a good thing......right? I've tried my darndest to hide these feelings from him, but he feels it too. He's too much of a deep thinker not to. He tells me that he loves school now (it was a little rough the first week). Today's conversation went like this:

Me: Gage, how was school today?
Gage: Oh, it was awesome! I love it! But can I not go tomorrow?
Me: I don't understand. You tell me all the time how much you love it, but then you say you don't want to go. Why?
Gage: I know it doesn't really make sense, Mom. It's hard to explain. I really do like school, but I like being at home more. I like playing with you and Bella and Paisley.

I hope he always prefers home over any other place. (Except maybe when he's 25...because that might be weird.) I was very social growing up and always had lots of friends that I loved to be with. I remember it caused some problems between me and my parents because they wanted me home. I could never understand it then, I thought I was just being normal and they were being odd. But now.....oh, how I understand it. And Gage is only 6!

This picture just makes me laugh. He's always overdoing his poses in pictures.

Walking from the car into his classroom, he was all smiles and really excited. Rob and I both got to take him and he thought that was really cool.

And then the excitement turned to this. He was scared and unsure. The teacher asked them to write their name on this picture and then color it. Gage can write his name and does so all the time. But he wrote it and it didn't even resemble letters. In all my anxiety I worried that the teacher may think he was really behind and told him to erase it and rewrite it. He did and it didn't look any better. He was nervous and I was NOT helping. Poor guy.

And then his face looked like this!! Just look at him! He was killing me!! But I should get the Academy Award because I put on my best face and even laughed (I mean, really, how silly) at the teacher's suggestion to us that we attend the "Boo Hoo Yahoo" where all the sad parents could meet and have questions answered about the goings-on of kindergarten. Secretly, I REALLY wanted to go to that sob-fest.

Before we left, I reminded him that he is our "Boy of Steel" and he faked his best smile. I held it together all the way out to that same sidewalk where Gage was so prematurely excited and then I lost it. Rob just laughed at me and put his arm around me. I had my own little private sob-fest all the way home.

Later that day, when Gage came home he showed me another picture he had colored. The teacher asked them to draw a picture and write a word (if they could) about how they were feeling. Gage wrote: "SAD". Ugh. But at least I could read it.

P.S. A couple of side notes that I forgot. In June, my friend asked Gage if he was getting excited to start school. He said, "Ummm, kinda. I'm worried that all the kids are going to think I'm bald." (He had just gotten his haircut really short for summer).

During the first week of school, he told me that he didn't like going because he felt like he was missing out on things at home. I told him that the only thing he was missing was chores. He said he didn't believe me and that he just knows that I take the girls to Dairy Queen while he's at school. Ha!!